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Pope Benedict shocks local Catholics

By Sarah Favot, sfavot@lowellsun.com

Updated:
02/12/2013 11:04:21 AM EST

Pope Benedict XVI holds the pastoral staff as he celebrates Christmas midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 25, 2008. Benedict shocked the Christian world Monday when he announced he will resign Feb. 28 for health considerations. ap file photo

LOWELL -- Local Catholic leaders were shocked to wake up to the news Monday morning of Pope Benedict XVI's announcement that he will resign at the end of the month.

When Rev. Terrence O'Connell, OMI, of St. Joseph the Worker Shrine, heard the news after waking up, he thought, "Did I hear that right?" he said in an interview.

"I think it's quite a surprise," O'Connell said. "It casts everything into a time of transition."

Pope Benedict, 85, becomes the first pope to resign in 600 years after less than eight years as pope.

In a meeting with cardinals at the Vatican on Monday, he said he no longer has the strength to serve as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which has more than 1 billion followers worldwide.

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited" to the demands of being pope, he told the cardinals.

At age 78, Benedict was the oldest elected pope in nearly 300 years.

Cardinals will meet in a conclave -- a secret meeting held in the Sistine Chapel -- to cast ballots to elect a new pope. The pope must be elected by a two-thirds majority.

All cardinals under age 80 are allowed to vote. There are 120 cardinals eligible.

The Church is saying it will hold a conclave in mid-March and the cardinals will likely have a decision by Easter, which falls on March 31.

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The Vatican stressed that no specific medical condition prompted Benedict's decision, that he remained fully lucid and made his decision independently.

The Rev. Brian Mahoney, pastor of St. Francis Parish in Dracut, said he and the parishioners he spoke with Monday morning were shell-shocked by the news.

"I did not see this coming at all and in some ways, I'm still sort of in a state of shock. I'm still processing through what this all means," he said.

Mahoney pointed out the Code of Canon Law, the rules that govern the Catholic Church, gives guidance on what happens when a pope resigns.

"It's not that the Church didn't foresee this as a possibility," he said.

Going into St. Joseph Shrine Monday morning, Jean Kriedberg said she was surprised to hear the news.

"It's not something you expect to hear on a Monday morning," she said. "I'm sure the man is making a decision based on his own conscience. It's disappointing."

O'Connell said he sees the timing of the pope's resignation as a positive so that the cardinals will use the Lenten season, which begins this week with Ash Wednesday, to reflect not only on God, but also on the future of the Church and on Benedict's successor.

Rev. Ron St. Pierre, pastor of Saint Mary Magdalen Parish in Tyngsboro, said the papacy is difficult and demanding.

"It takes all your wits about you to be able to minister to people. If he feels that he can no longer do that, he's a wise man to realize his own limitations," said St. Pierre.

St. Pierre said the cardinals may elect a younger man as the next pope.

Pope John Paul II reigned as pope for 26 years. He served until his death in 2005. His health began to decline in 2001 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and severe osteoarthosis, although he continued to travel.

St. Pierre said watching John Paul II's decline may have influenced Benedict to resign.

Professor Ernest Collamati, philosophy and religious studies department chairman at Regis College in Weston, said he was not shocked by the pope's announcement, but was surprised by the timing.

The pope had indicated in the past if he felt he could no longer do his job, he would resign.

"I think it sets an incredible precedent for all who will follow in the Chair of St. Peter to recognize there comes a time in everybody's life when you say, 'I think this particular venture has reached its most fruitful end,'" Collamati said. "How really noble."

Collamati said Benedict, a conservative leader, was distinguished by his intellect and scholarship and leaves encyclical letters on a variety of topics.

He said Benedict will be remembered for taking long-overdue action on dealing with some of the clerical sex-abuse scandal. Although more could have been done, Benedict raised the bar in terms of institutional response, Collamati said.

According to Collamati, issues that will face the next pope include: internal corruption in the offices of the Vatican brought to light with the leak of internal documents by the pope's butler further accountability against bishops involved in the cover-up of the sex-abuse scandal; the role of women in the Church; and an increasing global community due to the rising number of Catholics in the Southern Hemisphere.

While speculation has already begun about the next pope, the cardinals often choose an unlikely candidate.

Collamati said he wouldn't be surprised if the next pope was not from Europe.

John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope.

"I'm looking with great fascination at what's going to unfold," he said.

Priests believe the decision will be guided by God.

"I really do believe that ultimately the choice will come from guidance by the Holy Spirit. I do believe that actually," Mahoney said.

The Vatican said immediately after his resignation, which takes effect at 8 p.m. Feb. 28, Benedict would go to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer retreat south of Rome, and then would live in a cloistered monastery.

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